About

As an outlet for my interest - okay, my obsession - with domestic ducks and agrarian living, the Duckstead web site has arrived!

This site is the hub for musings about the ducks, their role in the interconnected, Permaculture-inspired design of our little plot of land, and a source for books, podcasts, e-books and videos on related topics.

My first book, "Carmella, Where Is Your Quack?" is intended to be for reading aloud to young children, or for young readers (or adults who just want an easy read about sweet ducks). It is available from three different sources.

You could order it through Amazon.

You could order it through Createspace, where you need a free login.

You could order it from me, so that I can sign it if you wish. The cost to buy it from me is $7 per book plus postage. E-mail me at hodgsonbiologic@gmail.com for additional details.

Please see my blog post on the Down on the Duckstead page for the urls to use to get to the Createspace and Amazon pages for the book.

Jun 25

Kombucha Update

After Decanting - Left a little starter with the scoby for the next batch

It's been a few months since beginning the kombucha trial. In that time we have made four batches. The three we have finished have all been good and tasty. The first one we pulled a little early - there was a definite sweetness in it. But we decanted it into the growler and placed it in the frij anyway, and enjoyed it. For the next two batches, we let them go a bit longer, and they are nice and tart. Also very yummy to us. We decanted those today.

I plan to continue making our own kombucha. It's easy and forgiving. Now that warm summer weather is here, we will want to have more of it.

The house has stayed relatively cool, and that slows the process. But it is not a problem because we anticipated that.

Having one gallon glass jars with wide mouths, a funnel, and some nice heavy duty glass growlers makes this project easy for us, and easy to continue. I made some little jar covers out of old cloth napkins and wide rubber bands. We rearranged the former dining room (now kitchen extension) to add a side table and so we have plenty of space for four kombucha bottles as well as numerous other food-related items.

We are at the stage of thinking about who among our friends might appreciate a gift of a scoby! XD

This is a project that has not only been fun in learning, but it is easy enough to keep up with, and the product is delicious enough, that this one is a keeper. I intend to have kombucha going from here on out.